Yet Another Idea Bunnies Thread

[pantherasapiens]

So, yes. Following in the grand old lines of other people, I'm going to use this thread as a storing-house for ideas of stories, quests, mechanics, etc. because my mind just keeps going around and around in circles on them. [1]

And maybe, with feedback and long flamewars discussion, they might even be made viable.

[1] As a terrible illustration, I've been mulling the idea of this thread for at least a month, and took about six hours to decide to hit the 'Create Thread' button. Which clearly can't be ideal.

 

[pantherasapiens]

Premise: Gaia is under attack. Some two decades ago, it was struck by two beings from an unimaginably distant origin. One of those died soon after arrival; the other survived. Part of it took the form of the dominant local species, but did not engage in any immediate behaviours similar to local life-forms. Soon after, individuals of the dominant local species began to exhibit anomalous abilities and behaviours. Some time after that, giant monsters appeared and began to ravage landmasses, upsetting ecosystems.

Two weeks ago, one of the individuals with the anomalous abilities spoke. "Sometimes it's in two years. Sometimes it's in eight. Sometimes in between. But if he's alive, something happens, and everyone on Earth starts to die."

There is a target, now, and a timeline.

---

So basically, I'm seeing this as Gaia pulling a leaf out of the Entities' books. It creates a pair of humanoid avatars - one female, one male - and goes to people, because humans are the vector of the attack and the victims, and so the cure needs to work that way too. And it shows itself to people that it thinks will do the job. Obviously Gaia doesn't have biggatons for them - no spiral galaxies' worth of durability, obviously, and even Gaia doesn't know the full extent of the Entities' plans yet. All Gaia knows is: Jack Slash must die, and in two years.

So Gaia distributes powers out - not necessarily in the form of rings, though that would call closest to the original, and limits itself to a select few people at a time for *hand-wavey* reasons, and sets them on a path towards... well.

I'm thinking this might work well as an RP. Since Jack Slash is in Brockton Bay at the time, the game will likely start there, and the players have to find each other and get to Jack Slash... along with all the other heroes in the location, dealing with obstacles, etc. (The challenge, here, obviously, is that it is an RP that starts with the canon station S9 Arc. So.)

Mechanics are all up in the air right now, but I'm thinking of just giving players so many "charges" in a ring to be expended on summoning/ controlling/ etc. the associated element, and recharging the ring in a Gaia-approved situation: fresh air, clean water, etc etc, which may or may not be hard to find in a post-Leviathan Brockton Bay. Though of course, if it is written as a story, then the mechanics are all *waves hand*...

 

[pantherasapiens]

Experimental mechanics going on:

Playtesting: Mami vs ANNE (one on one)
Initial:
Mami: HP 10/10; FP 10/10; Corruption 18.48%/100.00%
ANNE: HP 50/50; Armour 63, DR 8; Shield 100.00%/100.00%; Corruption 100.00%/100.00%
Roll initiative:
Mami 3d6+0 = 5
ANNE 3d6-1 = 8
ANNE attacks first.

===

Mami leaps out of a passageway into the labyrinth-heart, a churning pit filled with poison gas. However, ANNE sees Mami coming.

Round 1
ANNE moves away to the far side of the labyrinth-heart from Mami's expected landing-point. (ANNE rolls 3d6+0 to estimate this correctly: 7, her guess is not quite correct and she isn't as far from Mami as she'd like to be.)
Mami activates [SHIELD (PERSONAL)] as she lands, expending 0.02% Corruption (Corr. 18.48% -> 18.50%); she has a shield now of HP 50, DR 3, requiring 0.01% Corruption per 3 HP restored. She has no breathing protection, and so must roll to resist the magical poison gases, though she spends some Corruption to improve her resistance: 3d6+0+5 = 16 vs 9, pass (Corr. 18.50% -> 18.51%)

Round 2
ANNE sets the gases on fire. (Corr. 100.00% -> 99.97%)
Mami rolls to resist the poison gases: 3d6+0+5 = 18 vs 9, pass (Corr. 18.51% -> 18.52%). She cannot dodge, block, or parry the explosion that she is caught in, and takes 4d burning damage = 13 damage. After DR 3, her shield loses 10 HP (shield 50 -> 40). Mami pays maintenance for her shield (Corr. 18.52% -> 18.53%).
The heart of the labyrinth is now clear and ANNE is perfectly visible to Mami.

Round 3
ANNE runs. She expels a gust of poison gas downwards and uses [FLY] to launch herself upwards and away from Mami. (Corr. 99.97% -> 99.93%)
Mami smiles and takes aim. Mami pays maintenance for the shield (Corr. 18.53% -> 18.54%).

Round 4
ANNE is still running. (Corr. 99.97% -> 99.89%)
Mami casts [TOCCA]. ANNE is Size Modifier +1, so Mami uses three ribbons to ensure success in binding ANNE (Corr. 18.54% -> 18.57%). Mami pays maintenance for the shield (Corr. 18.57% -> 18.58%).
QUICK CONTEST: ANNE rolls 3d6-1 = 11, while Mami roll 3d6+3 = 9; ANNE barely escapes the ribbons.

Round 5
ANNE runs. (Corr. 99.89% -> 99.85%)
Mami applies another binding attempt using the same ribbons, but this time spends Corruption to improve her accuracy (Corr. 18.58% -> 18.60%). Mami pays maintenance for the shield (18.60% -> 18.61%).
QUICK CONTEST: ANNE rolls 3d6-1 = 10, while Mami rolls 3d6+5 = 15; ANNE is well and properly caught, now.

Round 6
ANNE attempts to break free by expelling gas (Corr. 99.85% -> 99.82%). ANNE rolls 3d6+0+1 = 10 vs 19, fails.
Mami summons five muskets (Corr. 18.60% -> 18.70%) and fires them at once. ANNE cannot dodge, so all the attacks hit. Mami dismisses her shield, seeing now that it's not needed.
MUSKET 1: 4d = 14, completely absorbed by shield (100.00% -> 0.00%).
MUSKET 2: 4d = 11, reduced to 3 by armour (63 -> 55). ANNE HP 50 -> 47.
MUSKET 3: 4d = 12, reduced to 4 by armour (55 -> 47). ANNE HP 47 -> 43.
MUSKET 4: 4d = 8, reduced to 0 by armour (47 -> 39). ANNE HP 47 -> 47.
MUSKET 5: 4d = 12, reduced to 4 by armour (39 -> 31). ANNE HP 47 -> 43.

Round 7
ANNE attempts to break free, consuming Corruption to boost her strength (Corr. 99.82% -> 99.73%) and expelling gas (Corr. 99.73% -> 99.70%). ANNE rolls 3d6+0+1+9 = 22 vs 19, passes, and breaks free of the [TOCCA]. ANNE's shield regenerates (0.00% -> 0.01%).
Mami uses TIRO VOLLEY (1 use: 10 shots; Corr. 18.70% -> 18.72%) + SEGUITO PROIETTILE (Corr. 18.72% -> 18.82%) and TOCCA MAGRO (Corr. 18.82% -> 18.92%). She's not aiming for ANNE, but rather aiming around ANNE to prevent further movement away from her. She further boosts her accuracy with Corruption (Corr. 18.92% -> 18.95%), and rolls 3d6+0+15 = 31 vs DC 25, passing. ANNE's path is now barred by 10 razor-sharp ribbons.

Round 8
ANNE, having no other choices, chooses to fly towards Mami (Corr. 99.70% -> 99.66%). ANNE regenerates her shield (Corr. 99.66% -> 90.66%; shield 0.01% -> 0.02% -> 2.25%) and armour (Corr. 90.66% -> 88.10%; armour 31 -> 63)
Mami summons twenty muskets (Corr. 18.95% -> 19.35%) and fires them. Because she has restricted ANNE's path, she gains a +2 to aiming.
MUSKET 1: 3d6+0+3+2 vs 3d6-1 = 14 vs 12, hit: 4d = 15, reduced to 14 by shield (2.25% -> 0.00%), reduced to 6 by armour (63 -> 55). ANNE HP 43 -> 37.
MUSKET 2: 3d6+0+3+2 vs 3d6-1 = 10 vs 13, miss.
MUSKET 3: 22 vs 3, hit: 4d = 16, reduced to 8 by armour (55 -> 47), ANNE HP 37 -> 29.
MUSKET 4: 10 vs 6, hit: 4d = 13, reduced to 5 by armour (47 -> 39), ANNE HP 29 -> 24.
MUSKET 5: 15 vs 11, hit: 4d = 14, reduced to 6 by armour (39 -> 31), ANNE HP 24 -> 18.
MUSKET 6: 13 vs 7, hit: 4d = 10, reduced to 2 by armour (31 -> 23), ANNE HP 18 -> 16.
MUSKET 7: 15 vs 8, hit: 4d = 19, reduced to 11 by armour (23 -> 15), ANNE HP 16 -> 11.
MUSKET 8: 15 vs 11, hit: 4d = 10, reduced to 2 by armour (15 -> 7), ANNE HP 11 -> 9.
MUSKET 9: 15 vs 8, hit: 4d = 10, reduced to 2 by armour (7 -> 0), ANNE HP 9 -> 7.
MUSKET 10: 13 vs 11, hit: 4d = 15, ANNE HP 7 -> -8.
<ANNE burns Corruption to restore its HP (Corr. 88.10% -> 82.88%, HP -8 -> 50)>
MUSKET 11: 20 vs 7, hit: 4d = 18, ANNE HP 50 -> 32.
MUSKET 12: 17 vs 5, hit: 4d = 18, ANNE HP 32 -> 14.
MUSKET 13: 14 vs 13, hit: 4d = 14, ANNE HP 14 -> 0.
<ANNE burns Corruption to restore HP (Corr. 82.88% -> 78.38%, HP 0 -> 50)>
MUSKET 14: 16 vs 9, hit: 4d = 17, ANNE HP 50 -> 13.
MUSKET 15: 16 vs 9, hit: 4d = 12, ANNE HP 13 -> 1.
MUSKET 16: 19 vs 8, hit: 4d = 13, ANNE HP 1 -> -12.
<ANNE burns Corruption to restore HP (Corr. 78.38% -> 72.80%, HP -12 -> 50)>
MUSKET 17: 14 vs 7, hit: 4d = 15, ANNE HP 50 -> 35
MUSKET 18: 18 vs 9, hit: 4d = 9, ANNE HP 35 -> 26
MUSKET 19: 14 vs 12, hit: 4d = 14, ANNE HP 26 -> 12
MUSKET 20: 11 vs 10, hit: 4d = 14, ANNE HP 12 -> -2
<ANNE burns Corruption to restore HP (Corr. 72.80% -> 68.12%, HP -2 -> 50)>

Round 9
ANNE continues flying towards Mami (Corr. 68.12% -> 68.08%), regenerates her shield (Corr. 68.12% -> 48.12%; shield 0.00% -> 0.01% -> 5.01%) and armour (Corr. 48.12% -> 43.08%; armour 0 -> 63)
Mami summons TIRO FINALE (Corr. 19.35% -> 19.89%) and fires it.
QUICK CONTEST: 3d6+0+4+2 vs 3d6-1 = 17 vs 3, hit: 6d x3 = 19 x3 = 48, reduced to 45 by shield (5.01% -> 0.00%), reduced to 35 by armour (63 -> 55). ANNE HP 37 -> 2. ANNE takes additional explosive damage: 16 damage, reduced to 8 damage by armour (55 -> 47). ANNE HP 2 -> -6.
<ANNE burns Corruption to restore HP (Corr. 43.08% -> 38.04%, HP -6 -> 50)>
Knockback = 3m, ANNE rolls to dodge TOCCA MAGRO: 3d6-1 = 10 vs 21, fail. ANNE receives 4d-1 slashing damage = 10, reduced to 2 damage by armour (47 -> 39). ANNE HP 50 -> 48.

Round 10
ANNE attemps to flee from the TOCCA MAGRO, but Mami draws it tight around her: ANNE rolls 3d6-1 = 15 vs 16, failing; Mami has caught her. ANNE's shield regenerates (0.00% -> 0.01%)
Mami takes the opportunity to constrict ANNE in the TOCCA MAGRO, using all ten ribbons. Because the TOCCA MAGRO are already in contact with ANNE, ANNE is unable to dodge and all ten ribbons wind around ANNE. She rolls 3d6+0+10+10 vs ANNE's 3d6+0 = 32 vs 14, for a damage of 18, not reduced by the shield (0.01% -> 0.00%), reduced to 10 damage by armour (39 -> 31). ANNE HP 48 -> 38.

Round 11
ANNE attempts to break free, consuming Corruption to boost her strength (Corr. 38.04% -> 37.90%), rolling 3d6+0+42 vs 41 and succeeding. She takes damage in the process: 3d6+21+10+10 vs 3d6+0 = 51 vs 10, for a damage of 41, reduced to 33 damage by armour (31 -> 23). ANNE HP 38 -> 5. ANNE's shield regenerates (0.00% -> 0.01%)
Mami summons another twenty TOCCA MAGRO to wrap around ANNE (Corruption 19.89% -> 20.29%), and spends Corruption to improve her aim again (Corruption 20.29% -> 20.33%). Mami rolls 3d6+0+10 vs ANNE's 3d6-1 = 9 vs 4, and succeeds; ANNE is bound in twenty TOCCA MAGRO.

Round 12
ANNE attempts to break free, consuming Corruption to boost her strength (Corr. 37.90% -> 33.90%), rolling 3d6+0+400 vs 100 and succeeding. She takes damage in the process: 3d6+200+10+20 vs 3d6+0 = 248 vs 8, for a damage of 240, not reduced by the shield (0.01% -> 0.00%), reduced to 232 damage by armour (23 -> 15). ANNE HP 5 -> -227. ANNE burns Corruption to restore HP (Corr. 33.90% -> 8.97%, HP -227 -> 50). ANNE's shield regenerates (0.00% -> 0.01%).
Mami summons a bunch of muskets and fires (Corr. 20.33% -> 20.65%).
MUSKET 1: 3d6+0+3 vs 3d6-1 = 17 vs 10, hit: 4d = 12, red. to 4 by armour (15 -> 7), ANNE HP 50 -> 44
MUSKET 2: 9 vs 8, hit: 13, red. to 5 by armour (7 -> 0), ANNE HP 44 -> 39
MUSKET 3: 13 vs 8, hit: 15, ANNE HP 39 -> 14
MUSKET 4: 11 vs 8, hit: 15, ANNE HP 14 -> 0
<ANNE burns Corruption to restore HP (Corr. 8.97% -> 4.47%, HP 0 -> 50)>
MUSKET 5: 11 vs 10, hit: 17, ANNE HP 50 -> 33
MUSKET 6: 11 vs 8, hit: 10, ANNE HP 33 -> 23
MUSKET 7: 16 vs 7, hit: 17, ANNE HP 23 -> 6
MUSKET 8: 17 vs 8, hit: 14, ANNE HP 6 -> -8
<ANNE burns Corruption to restore HP (Corr. 4.47% -> 0.06%, HP 0 -> 49)>
MUSKET 9: 12 vs 13, miss
MUSKET 10: 13 vs 14, miss
MUSKET 11: 12 vs 11, hit: 19, ANNE HP 50 -> 31
MUSKET 12: 12 vs 6, hit: 10, ANNE HP 31 -> 21
MUSKET 13: 20 vs 11, hit: 13, ANNE HP 21 -> 8
MUSKET 14: 13 vs 17, miss
MUSKET 15: 9 vs 11, miss
MUSKET 16: 10 vs 6, hit: 13, ANNE HP 8 -> -5
ANNE dies.
Mami receives 1 Grief Seed, 1d6 = 5 uses.*

*but if overfilled, ANNE comes out 5x stronger.

Click to shrink...

---

Thoughts:

• At L100, it still takes Mami twelve rounds of attack and 2.17% of Corruption to defeat an ostensibly L3 Witch, though it's notable that she doesn't take a single HP of damage in it. For Puellae who don't have up to 20 attacks of 4d damage a turn, this battle would have taken much longer and been much more costly - I may playtest this again later using L1 Sayaka. On the other hand, the Witch yields effectively 450.00% worth of cleanses, if one waits until 90.00% Corruption to cleanse (which is of course a terrible idea).
  • ANNE's survivability is hugely boosted because of the way Witches' Corruption reflexively kicks in to replace HP; at this point, Witches have four damage soaks: the shield, the armour, the HP, and the Corruption (in the form of automatic healing), and that's probably too much. So instead what could be done would be to change the exchange rate of the "reflexive healing": if the Witch spends a turn on it, it costs the usual rate. If it's the blind panic of the Witch feeling its physical shell breaking and just throwing magic at it until the problem goes away, then it might cost 3 or 4 times that? Hmmm.
    • Witches should probably also not start at 100.00% Corruption; at any given time, they'd have spent Corruption on hiding, building minions, Kissing, luring mortals in... So if you catch a Witch that's been very very active, you might have an easier time of it because the Witch has overextended itself trying to get fed.
    • Alternatively: the Witch does not reflexively heal itself. The Witch's defensive priorities therefore become to maintain its shield and armour at all times, or to spend Corruption on improving its dodging. Which seems like it'd work best.
  • Also because ANNE can restore her shield, armour, and HP in the same turn, which borks up the action economy rather. I'll need to separate those out.
  • So the typical strategy might be something like:
    • Lots of negligibly weak attacks to keep the shield down, though the shield really only becomes an issue whenever it's regenerated past about 5 - 10%, which takes a bit of time.
    • Attacks of (at least X) to break down the armour and also whittle away at the Witch's health.
    • Attacks of BIG POWER once the armour is gone, before the Witch can restore it, to knock big chunks of HP off of the Witch.
• ANNE did the most damage to herself when breaking through the TOCCA MAGRO attacks. If left to the usual strategy of using muskets to whittle her down in preparation for the TIRO FINALE, the pattern seems to be roughly that every 0.4% of Corruption spent by Mami results in 20% of Corruption used by ANNE in healing, running away, etc.
  • Speaking of which, Mami's TIRO FINALE needs to be made much more impressive - 6d x3 of explosive damage for 0.54% Corruption, when compared to Mami's musket-bombing of 80d of piercing damage for 0.40% Corruption, seems very very paltry. So it'll have to do at least 5x the current damage - 6d x 15? - and include some measure of side effect - stunning, blinding, etc., so even if it doesn't deal the killing shot, the target is left as good as.
    • Which I've just added in, so victims are forced to save vs deafness, blindness, and stunning, in addition to the usual knockback, being set on fire, etc. - assuming they survive (on average) 315 HP of blasting damage + 105 HP more damage for every Size Modifier +1 they have.
• I just realised I forgot to add Mami's [GUNS] skill bonus to her shots. I need to remember that.
• I think I rolled 3d6 about 60+ times in this entire round, and only once did the dice come up as a critical success. Which is good, yes.
• I also need to consider spacing combat out to include more movements: Mami is the kind to dance and twirl about as she does her thing... ANNE's thing is running away and hoping you choke to death on the poison gases, though, so her strategies are pretty clear.

 

[pantherasapiens]

Sooooooooo.

Let's assume a fresh-out-the-hospital Homura vs an L1 Skeleton, as statted by the GURPS Wiki - it's a random encounter, so it's as close as we'll get to a proper white room thing. Let's assume they encounter each other on an open field with no other people around.

Spoiler: mathy

Initial:
Homura: HP 7/7; FP 8/8; MP 50/50; Corruption 0.00%
Skeleton: HP 10/10; FP 10/10


Order of battle:
Homura's basic speed = 4.25
Skeleton's basic speed = 6.50

The skeleton goes first.

Round 1:
The skeleton has one and only one move: attack.

Skeleton's attack: 3d6+1 vs 3d6-2 = 6 vs 13; Homura manages to avoid the skeleton's clumsy attack, and it is now her turn to attack (or run away to get help, but for our purposes she chooses to fight).

Being L1 and new to the entire scene, Homura's options are restricted to fisticuffs: her attacks, whether by punching or kicking, do 1d6-3 thrusting damage. She can improve her attacks in three ways:
* Extra Effort: spend one FP (3d6+???, DC 10) to either get +4 to hit or +2 to damage
* [AUGMENT BODY (DEX)]: spend 0.04% Corruption to boost DEX by +1 for a roll, stackable
* [AUGMENT BODY (STR)]: spend 0.04% Corruption to boost STR by +1 for a roll, stackable

Because she has [MAGICAL ENDURANCE] on auto-cast, which instantly converts 0.01% Corruption to 1 FP, Homura decides to spend 2 FP.

Homura rolls to see if her Extra Effort benefits her:
3d6-1 (DEX) vs 10 = 11 vs 10, pass: Homura gets the +4 bonus to hit (FP 10 -> 9).
3d6-2 (STR) vs 10 = 9 vs 10, fail: Homura does not get the +2 bonus to damage (FP 9 -> 8).

Homura's attack: 3d6-1 (DEX) +4 (Extra Effort) vs 3d6+1 = 11 vs 12; Homura's fists miss the skeleton entirely as well, despite the extra effort she's put in. Her [MAGICAL ENDURANCE] activates (Corruption 0.00% -> 0.02%, FP 8 -> 10).

Round 2:
The skeleton attacks. Homura uses [AUGMENT BODY (DEX)] here, to ensure that she gets out of the way of the hit.

3d6+1 vs 3d6-2 (dodge) +3 ([AUGMENT BODY (DEX)] = 8 vs 11; Homura again manages to evade the skeleton's attacks (Corruption 0.02% -> 0.14%).

Homura attacks as before, but using [AUGMENT BODY (STR)] and [AUGMENT BODY (DEX)] to be sure that her Extra Effort will count this time:
3d6-1 (DEX) +2 ([AUGMENT BODY (DEX)]) vs 10 = 13 vs 10, pass: Homura gets the +4 bonus to hit (Corruption 0.14% -> 0.22%, FP 10 -> 9)
3d6 -2 (STR) +3 ([AUGMENT BODY (STR)]) vs 10 = 17 vs 10, pass: Homura gets the +2 bonus to damage (Corruption 0.22% -> 0.34%, FP 9 -> 8). Her [MAGICAL ENDURANCE] activates (Corruption 0.34% -> 0.36%, FP 8 -> 10).

Homura's attack: 3d6-1 (DEX) +4 (Extra Effort) +2 ([AUGMENT BODY (DEX)]) vs 3d6+1 = 12 vs 14, and Homura misses again by a small margin (Corruption 0.36% -> 0.44%).

Round 3:
Skeletal attack: 3d6+1 vs 3d6-2 (dodge) +3 ([AUGMENT BODY (DEX)]) = 13 vs 12, and the skeleton's bony fingers connect for 1d-3 crushing damage: 1 damage (Corruption 0.44% -> 0.56%, Homura's HP 7 -> 6).

Homura attacks again.
3d6-1 (DEX) +2 ([AUGMENT BODY (DEX)]) vs 10 = 11 vs 10, pass; +4 to attack (Corruption 0.56% -> 0.64%, FP 10 -> 9)
3d6 -2 (STR) +3 ([AUGMENT BODY (STR)]) vs 10 = 7 vs 10, fail (Corruption 0.64% -> 0.76%, FP 9 -> 8)

Homura's attack: 3d6-1 (DEX) +4 (Extra Effort) +4 ([AUGMENT BODY (DEX)]) vs 3d6+1 = 14 vs 7, and Homura's fist connects solidly with the skeleton's head! Having committed to using [AUGMENT BODY (STR)] to boost her STR from 7 to 13 for one roll (Corruption 0.76% -> 1.00%), her thrust attack damage for this turn is 1d6: 4 damage (Skeleton's HP 10 -> 6).

Round 4:
Skeletal attack: 3d6+1 vs 3d6-2 (dodge) +4 ([AUGMENT BODY (DEX)]) = 14 vs 9, and the skeleton pinches Homura for 3 crushing damage (Corruption 1.00% -> 1.12%, Homura's HP 6 -> 3).

At this point Homura decides to magically heal herself for 4 HP.

Homura's roll to heal: 3d6+0 vs 0 = automatic pass (Homura's HP 3 -> 7, Corruption 1.12% -> 2.72%).

Round 5:
Skeletal attack: 3d6+1 vs 3d6-2 (dodge) +10 ([AUGMENT BODY (DEX)]) = 13 vs 23, and Homura tosses herself free of the skeleton's sweeping arms (Corruption 2.72% -> 3.12%).

Homura attacks again!
3d6-1 (DEX) +5 ([AUGMENT BODY (DEX)]) vs 10 = 20 vs 10, pass; +4 to hit (FP 10 -> 9, Corruption 3.12% -> 3.32%)
3d6 -2 (STR) +5 ([AUGMENT BODY (STR)]) vs 10 = 11 vs 10, pass; +2 to damage (FP 9 -> 8, Corruption 3.32% -> 3.52%)

Homura's attack: 3d6-1 (DEX) +4 (Extra Effort) +4 ([AUGMENT BODY (DEX)]) vs 3d6+1 = 20 vs 8, and Homura connects again (Corruption 3.52% -> 3.68%). She uses [AUGMENT BODY (STR)] to boost her STR to 25, which allows her to be (for this single moment) about twice as strong as the strongest mundane human in all history, and her punch does 2d6+2+2 damage (Corruption 3.68% -> 4.40%): 10 damage (Skeleton's HP 6 -> -4), and the Skeleton crumbles to dust.

The battle is over: Homura gains 0.01% progress towards L2, and the skeleton may drop items.

Thoughts:

• It was somewhere around Round 5 that I realised that adding DEX doesn't directly add to +1 dodge; the formulae work differently. In fact, the way the formula is calculated, you'd need uhhhh +4 DEX +4 CON to get a +1 dodge (or +8 DEX +0 CON, or +2 DEX +6 CON, etc). Which shows my unfamiliarity with the GURPS system - but also, it means that at this level, every +1 dodge would cost Homura a rather whopping 0.32% Corruption.
• Similarly for modifiers! Blehhhhhhhhhh. Juggling multiple characters' stats is hard.
• Homura would probably have found it more economical if she had decided to simply bust out the giant guns from the start: +16 DEX (or 0.64% Corruption) to grant a +2 dodge bonus at every roll, +16 DEX (or 0.64% Corruption) (or +8 to hit) in addition to the +4 to hit from Extra Effort (and associated +8 DEX (or 0.32% Corruption) = +4 modifier for success); a +2 to damage from Extra Effort (and associated +12 STR (or 0.48% Corruption) = +6 modifier for success); a +18 STR (or 0.72% Corruption) to bump the damage roll up from 1d6-3 to 2d6+2, which is a whopping 2.80% Corruption spent per turn, but in exchange she has a dodge roll of 3d6-2 (dodge) +2 ([AUGMENT BODY (DEX)]) = 3d6 (ave. 11); an attack roll of 3d6-1 (DEX) +4 (Extra Effort) +8 ([AUGMENT BODY (DEX)]) = 3d6+7 (ave. 17); and a damage roll of 2d6+2+2 (ave. 11). So she might have taken a hit from the skeleton, if it had been lucky on its attack roll, but she'd have simply smashed its skull into the ground on the next turn (its dodge roll is 3d6+1, so it'd have had to roll a 16 or better on a 3d6), or, at most, the turn after that - and two turns of this is 5.60% Corruption per Skeleton slain at relatively low risk.
  • ...but yes, it's starting to look like I'm going to need to nerf the Skeletons just to give Homura a fighting chance. Or I might not, and leave her to depend on Skeletons that drop, I don't know, darts or something she can equip as a weapon.

 

[pantherasapiens]

Just putting this here so I don't forget about it.

Something about genius loci - inhabitants, deals with neighbours, infrastructure, resource management? Hedge Maze quest started out this way, but rapidly went off into being Baby God territory, while I'm thinking of keeping it more... down to earth. Hm. To be developed later.

 

[pantherasapiens]

So, expanding on the Genius Loci idea. I'm thinking much more of Fiddler's Green, from Sandman, than of Hedge Maze Quest, here, and of course there's a point where things run in parallel. So at the very base of it is the origin of a place and the way it holds metaphysical "weight" - something has happened to the place, or about it, and then something else is coming.

Things a Genius Loci spends strength on:
* fortification, repair, improvement
* certain special abilities, related to its nature

Things a Genius Loci gains strength from:
* development of its nature
* investment from other entities

The nature of a place relates to its history and origin, I would say. All loci have a potential of gaining genius: when they gain entrenchment or reputation. This is the sense in which Hollywood is a Genius Loci in its entire, or a conglomeration of smaller genius loci (genii loci?) that each fall under the overall umbrella niche of "the place of fame and fortune through acting", or Pearl Harbour is a genius loci whose nature is, for good or ill, "pivotal incident leading to war" - things like that. So, in this sense, it is the... devouring, or feeding, of a place, that gives it strength.
Not necessarily death, though that's one way, and so war-fields and trenches are full of power, but also emotions and spirits. Old schools, ancestral homes, bank vaults. In that sense they're something similar to spirits from Mage: a genius loci library feeds on the effort put into it by the librarians, on the donated books it receives, on the late fees, and then uses that power to, say, encourage its atmosphere to be one of quietness and solemnity, to encourage more readers, or it invests it into resources - so that the library somehow receives donations of rare books or new equipment. And if you, for example, are an enemy genius loci - a golf course that wants to tear the library down to occupy its space - then maybe that's what you work against, by causing disrepair or disrespect to the library somehow. It'd be a fairly indirect, possibly slow, kind of warfare, unless you drew yourself up and went out as a personification...

So, on the origins, and therefore magic systems of this world.

Let us say that things have value. Beauty, utility, rarity. Sacrifices and effort. A place where many things of a certain kind of value accrete, over time, becomes flavoured with those things. A palace is flavoured with power and excess, a judge's chamber with deliberation and thought, a gallows-ground with justice and punishment and fear. At some point the balance tips over: newly-crowned and newly-victorious, a king throws a massive banquet that costs the worth of half his kingdom? The hangman, found to have been harvesting his corpses for meat and bones, is sentenced to hang? And the palace comes to life, or the gallows-ground wakes up. So you can deliberately cultivate, and wake, a genius loci, if you want to, but equally it's possible for a genius loci to wake on its own - a verdant valley experiencing an unprecedented season of lush growth, or a snowy tundra where an invading army, unprepared, freezes and starves to death.

Who decides the value of things? The receiver does. How does a genius loci accrete these things? It doesn't. What is invested, is what is harvested: metaphorical seeds in metaphorical soil, bringing out strange life.

The story therefore begins with a fresh-born being, just come to life. Perhaps woken deliberately, as a pawn in some game of power; perhaps on its own, by some burst of luck or strange activity or the sheer weight of age. Start young, start small, start weak. Consume and build up to entrench yourself, by taking value from others, and beware the oncoming dangers...

I think it would be interesting, seeing a new genius loci struggle for its survival - going up, in essence, through the Maslow's Hierarchy, forming alliances of convenience or enemies and fighting enemies. Because, of course, once you have a genius loci, you can have any other thing accrete the same things into itself and gain "life" - and other things might have lower thresholds for that, and smaller capacities as well. Larger events will come and go, of course, and who knows how the genius loci will survive them, or change itself?

 

[pantherasapiens]

An idea came up a few days ago.

Suppose that it's a world very much like that of Codex Alera. There are elemental natures and/or spirits, everybody has an affinity to at least one, they let you do crazy amazing things depending on the strength/ training/ bond [1]. And then one day some kid is born, and everybody thinks they're a really weak practitioner, since they can only work with charcoal (though they could maybe do some stuff with the wind, too?). They get on with things, more or less, but the relative weakness/ rarity of their element forces them to be creative about working within constraints.

Somewhere along the line it turns out they're actually a full-strength element-user, only the element they're bonded to is carbon. And then, I'unno, maybe it turns out that more and more people are working that way, the world's changing its pattern because of some ancient prophecy/ somebody tinkering with the deepest magic foundations...

[1] And this kind of works if they're spirits, so the practitioner has to attune themselves and make certain sacrifices, perform certain rituals, etc. to Cast Stronger Fireball...

 

[pantherasapiens]

So, here's an idea for a group RP: Tsukumogami RP.

Basically a whole bunch of household appliances and thingies - represented obviously by the players - gain sentience from being old and loved by "their" household. And these things are old, even if only relatively: beat-up old toys from the patriarch's childhood, a hand-me-down silk dress, stuff like that.

So they gain sentience, some extranormal powers so that they can see and move and communicate, maybe even more than that. It'll rapidly come out that their family has gone missing somewhere, in the same event that made the player characters sentient.

Upon which it's an adventure to go off into the strange new world out there and find the household!

 

[rkyeun]

Genius Loci idea.

Click to shrink...

The world is Factorio.
You are the Biters. All of them. The grass, the trees, the worms, the fish, the spitters, the spawners. It's all you. It's not even a HIVE mind, that's just what you, as a singular entity, are.
Now stop that guy in power armor from killing you.

 

[pantherasapiens]

The world is Factorio.
You are the Biters. All of them. The grass, the trees, the worms, the fish, the spitters, the spawners. It's all you. It's not even a HIVE mind, that's just what you, as a singular entity, are.
Now stop that guy in power armor from killing you.

Click to shrink...

You just made me Google Factorio.

That's... that's cool. That's very cool. *__*

 

[pantherasapiens]

The idea started from Worm, but I'm thinking that it would work better when made independent.

We live on Earth, but two years ago the scientists announced that we live on Earth-1. That they've discovered an Earth-2, and potentially an Earth-3 to boot. Something about hyperrelative dimensions in quarkspace, that you only discover under very stringent conditions that take millions of dollars to achieve. People were excited for a while, until they then noted that it really only applied to very specific kinds of subatomic particles.

There was a movie, but that's really about it.

But now there's been an announcement - at some ridiculous, incredible, unimaginable expense, this research was developed further and investigated and the upshot is that they've managed to build a portal into Earth-2. It'll only last a day, and the chance to do it again won't appear for months, maybe years... but everybody wants to get in there and stake out a piece of New Earth for themselves.

Including you.

Who are you?

Click to shrink...

So there'd be a little chargen - whether you're an expedition sent by a country to stake out new sovereign land, scientists going in to explore, some random schmuck who sneaks through to escape their old life, a bunch of bandits escaping, or business interests looking for a new mine or oil rig, and that'd determine your starting resources as well as the kinds of options available to you, plus your obligations - sovereign expeditions have to map and tame the land and hold their border, scientists need to collect data and samples, etc. and all these come due whenever the portal next opens.

I figure a good chunk of it would be about trying to set up a sustainable lifestyle, dealing with local nature and/or cultures, dealing with the other parties who got sent through, and working towards your own goals. And then the big twist, of course, which is that other populated Earths also exist and are doing the same thing, and now it's a kind of race between all the populated Earths [1] to see who can grab the most New Earths for themselves? Which would be quite the change of scale, but, y'know...

[1] Scientists: "We thought we were Earth-1, but it turns out we're Earth-616."
Public: "Boo! Boo!"

 

[pantherasapiens]

...because there just aren't enough middle-management type things going around, I guess.

The idea here being that the players are a middle-management type in a company, Cubes Inc., that produces - well, cubes. Solid wooden cubes initially, I guess, though research could unlock newer and better cubes as time goes on. The goal of the game? Turn over a solid quarterly/ annual profit, obviously, though they'd have personal goals as well to achieve...

I'm seeing it as having each turn last a week in-game - seven updates, or more depending, and each new week comes with a quota: "Produce X Cubes to get Y money." And then they need to get that quota met, however they do it.

Stats-wise, because of course there's stats:
Bureaucracy: Documentation, records, and stuff. This stat is what helps you overcome audits, get data for analysis, etc. A low score here would mean you're a disorganised mess who hasn't got anything written down; a high score means you're the undisputed master of paperwork and data.
Charisma: Obvious. This would factor into interpersonal relationships - useful for getting along with coworkers, your bosses, etc. A low score here means people might dislike you and therefore interfere with you; a high score means you're the ruler of the water cooler, hear all the gossip, etc.
Competence: How good you actually are at getting that quota done. A low score here means lots of missed quotas and poor profit; a high score means lots of money. Obviously this is one of the key scores here - if you want Cubes Inc. to succeed...

Might add others as I see necessary, but right now these are all I see needed. I'm thinking it'd run on GURPS-lite - each stat ranges from 3 - 18, and it's a 3d6 per challenge faced to see how well you get through it.

I'm thinking two separate action economies, too, one for the player character and one for their department. So they'd have four Corporate actions per day, and three Personal actions.

Corporate actions: Success depends on subordinates, coworkers, equipment, etc.​

Production: Fairly obvious. One slot per machine produces some number of Cubes. By default, all slots are always assigned to Production.
Maintenance: Also obvious. One slot per machine will remove some faults from it, as well as possibly revealing faults or stuff.​

Personal actions: Success depends entirely on the player character. Or mostly, anyway.​

Meetings: Talking to the bosses, coworkers, subordinates, or others to Get Things Done. Sometimes one gets dragged into meetings one didn't ask for, though. Generally a challenge vs Charisma.
Reports: Doing paperwork, because there's always reports to file, records to check, emails to read and reply... Generally a challenge vs Bureaucracy.
Personal Projects: Pet projects that the player character comes up with. Could challenge any or all of the stats, depending. Most attempts to research a new product would fall here, unless you can use a Meeting to foist them off on somebody else.​